In the summertime when the weather is hot
You can stretch right up and touch the sky
When the weather’s fine
You got women, you got women on your mind
Have a drink, have a drive
Go out and see what you can find

If her daddy’s rich take her out for a meal
If her daddy’s poor just do what you feel
Speed along the lane
Do a ton or a ton an’ twenty-five
When the sun goes down
You can make it, make it good in a lay-by

We’re no threat, people
We’re not dirty, we’re not mean
We love everybody but we do as we please
When the weather’s fine
We go fishin’ or go swimmin’ in the sea
We’re always happy
Life’s for livin’ yeah, that’s our philosophy

When the winter’s here, yeah it’s party time
Bring your bottle, wear your bright clothes
It’ll soon be summertime
And we’ll sing again
We’ll go drivin’ or maybe we’ll settle down
If she’s rich, if she’s nice
Bring your friends and we’ll all go into town

In the summertime when the weather is hot
You can stretch right up and touch the sky
When the weather’s fine
You got women, you got women on your mind
Have a drink, have a drive
Go out and see what you can find

If her daddy’s rich take her out for a meal
If her daddy’s poor just do what you feel
Speed along the lane
Do a ton or a ton an’ twenty-five
When the sun goes down
You can make it, make it good in a lay-by

We’re no threat, people
We’re not dirty, we’re not mean
We love everybody but we do as we please
When the weather’s fine
We go fishin’ or go swimmin’ in the sea
We’re always happy
Life’s for livin’ yeah, that’s our philosophy

In 1970 it reached number one in charts around the world, including seven weeks in the UK Singles Chart, two weeks in one of the Canadian charts, and number three on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in the US. It is considered one of the best-selling singles of all time with an estimated 30 million copies sold.

The song took Dorset only ten minutes to write and compose, which he did using a second-hand Fender Stratocaster while he was taking time off work from his regular job, working in a lab for Timex. The song’s lyric “have a drink, have a drive, go out and see what you can find” led to the song’s somewhat ironic use in a UK advert for the campaign Drinking and Driving Wrecks Lives.

“It’s got no chorus; all it’s got is a melody that goes over and over again with a set of lyrics that conjure up a celebration of life,” he said. “Especially if you’re a young person: it’s a great day, you’ve managed to get a car – preferably with the top off – you’re cruising around, and if you’re a guy you’re picking up girls.”

In an interview with Gary James, Dorset explained the origin of the “motorcycle” sound towards the end of the song: “I said, ‘We’ll just get a recording of a motorcycle, stick it on the end of the song and then re-edit the front and then put the front off to the motorcycle so it starts up again.’ But I couldn’t find a motorcycle. Howard Barry, the engineer had an old, well, it wasn’t old then, a Triumph sports car, which he drove past the studio while Barry Marrit was holding the microphone. So, he got the stereo effects from left to right or right to left, whatever. And that was it.”

The Reggae artist Shaggy covered this in 1995. His version, which features the singer Rayvon, reached #5 in the UK. Ray Dorset re-recorded his guitar part for Shaggy’s version.